cold war - meaning , patterns and consequenses.pdf

7/29/2019 COLD WAR - MEANING , PATTERNS AND CONSEQUENSES.pdf

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UNIT 7 COLD WAR :MEANING,PATTERNS AND DIMENSIONSStructure7.0 Objectives7.1 Introduction7.2 Meaning7.3 Origin7.4 Spread of the Cold War7.5 Cold War in the Far East7.6 Relaxation of the Cold War7.7 The Rebirth of the Cold War7.8 Patterns and Dimensions7.9 End of the Cold War7.10 Let Us Sum Up7.1 1 Key Words7.12 Some Useful Books7.13 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

7.0 'OBJECTIVESThis unit discusses the Cold War, its meaning and dimensions. After going through theUnit you will be able to:

define the concept of the Cold War;trace the origin of this non-military conflict;

a understand the pattern and dimensions of the Cold War;a identify the causes for the demise of the Cold War; anda assess the impact and aftermath of the Cold War.

7.1 INTRODUCTIONThe First World War (1914-18) ended with the birth of a new system, the socialistsystem in the world. The war also sowed the seeds of another world war. These twodevelopments have conditioned the subsequent decades in a big way. In 1939 theSecond World War broke out. The Second World War was fought between the twoblocs-the Allied powe rs and the Axis powers . Th e socialist bloc joined the Allies. Th eAllies won the war. The war ended with the destruction of the old capitalist imperialistdominated world. The world now was divide d into two blocs-Western or capitalistbloc, headed by the neo-colonialist power, the United States of America (USA) and theSocialist bloc headed by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The USA andthe USSR emerged as the two super powers. n o locs represented two contradictorysystems. Conflict between them was inevitable. The conflict was turned into Cold Warbecause the world meanwh ile experienced a qualitative change.At the end of the Second World War, a world body named United Organisation (UN)was founded to make the world safe for peace. Th e~ tw o uperpowers acquired highlysophisticated destructive weapons. Europe became dep endent upon the USA.Decolonialization became the reality. Above all world public opinion disfavoured anyworld wide holocaust. But these developments failed to stop the local or civil wars indifferent countries and to refrain the two superpo wers from tension ridden competitionfor establishing supremacy over the world. The hostile competition turned into Coldwar


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Cold War Period >7.2 MEANINGThe term "Cold War" is of recent origin. It has been in use since the Second World Warfor denoting the non-military hostility between the United States of America (USA) andthe former Soviet Union. In course of time it has been used as a concept ininternational relations. The term Cold War means a state of hostility between nationswithout actual fighting (i.e. non-military hostility). The concept stands for struggle forsupremacy waged by the nations or states through propaganda, economic measures,political manoeuvres, etc. Nations or states, engaged in Cold War do not go for actualwar (military action). It is a state of cut-throat competition, but the competing partiesremain far away from armed conflict between them. It was a conflict between twoideologies : Capitalism vs. Socialism.Check Your Progress 1Note : ) Use the space given below for your answers.

ii) Check your answer with the model answer given at the end of the unit.1) What do you mean by the term of ColdWar?

7.3 ORIGINThe origin of the Cold War may be traced back to the 1917 Russian Revolution, whichgave birth to a new system. The system came to be known as socialist system, opposedto exploitative capitalist system. Whole of the capitalist world got terror stricken andrallied to crush the new state of the USSR, failing to destroy it they encouraged theemergence of the Nazi power in Germany, so that it might be used against the USSR.The USSR made serious efforts to get the Western powers involved in checking therapid rise of Nazi Germany. But the Western powers did not respond to the USSR's call.Meanwhile the Second World War broke out in 1939.Germany attacked the USSRviolating the non-aggression pact between them. The USSR joined the Allied powersand made great contribution to defeat the Axis powers. Despite its sincere efforts tocrush the Axis powers, the West always looked at the USSR with deep suspicion. TheWest is alleged to have desired the end of the USSR in the process of fighting againstthe Nazi led Axis powers. That is why perhaps the Allies did not respond to the USSR'srepeated appeal for opening second front in the Eastern Europe against Germany. Afterthe war the Allies did not hide their fear and hatred towards the USSR which nowemerged as one of the superpowers in the world. The USA emerged as anothersuperpower at the end of the Second World War. the Wartime Allies including the USSRfounded the world body the United Nations (UN) to make the planet safe for peace. Butthey failed to forestall the local wars because the UN does not have the necessarypowers to compel1 the super or major powers to keep away from encouraging conflicts.As a result they went on their own ways. They have organised their rival defenseorganisations, and have gone on reacting to each crisis as per their respective interests.They either have used the world body or have ignored it. The world thus driftedtowards the Cold War in the wake of the Second World War.


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Check Your Progress 2Note : ) Use the space given below for your answers.

ii) Check your answer with the model answer given at the end of the unit.1) Critically discuss the circumstances leading to the beginning of the Cold War.

7.4 SPREAD OF THE COLD WARRussia (USSR) assumed a sum of $ 10 billion indemnity from Germany following theSecond World War. The USA and Britain violating the decision of the July 1945Potsdam Conference stopped the delivery of the reparations to Russia. It created a crisiswhich has come to be known as German Crisis. In order to overcome the crisis the bigfour powers, Russia, France, Britain and the USA met in a Conference in early 1947.The USA and Britain insisted the economic Unification of Germany. France and Russiaopposed the proposal. The Conference ended w ithout resolving the crisis. Meanwh ilethe USA violating all norms intervened the Greek Civil War in March 1947 . PresidentTruman of the USA delivered a speech to the US Congress on 12th March, 1947 tojustify the intervention in Greece and asked the Congress to provide authority forfinancial assistance to Greece ar,d Turkey for suppressing the Communist led Civil Warin those countries. The principles which Truman elaborated in the Congress have cometo be known as Truman Doctrine, the essence of which is that the USA has the right tointervene anywhere to check the spread of the Communism. The Truman Doctrine is thenaked manifestation of Cold War. Th e Cold War further was deepened in early 1950s. InDecember 1951 the USA came forward with European recovery programme, which iscommonly known as the Marshall plan and is often interpreted as the economiccounterpart of the Truman Doctrine which was basically political. Though, the USAdeclared that the plan aimed at reconstructing the War-torn Europe, it was generallycalled an attempt to protect Europe from being taken over by the Commmunists.Because throughout Europe there was a surge of Communist movements immediatelyafter the Second World War. All West European states readily accepted the US assistanceunder Marshall Plan. The East European nations are alleged to have refused to acceptthe assistance because of the USSR machinations. The USSR immediately founded theCouncil for. Mutural Econ om ic Assistance (CMEA ), common ly know n as Molotov Plan.Thus Europe got divided into two blocs which were further formalised when thedefensive treaties were signed.

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The surge of Communist movements throughout Europe, coupled with the growingtension between the USA and the USSR led the USA to propose a defensive alliancewith the Western powers. Thus, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in April, 1949 tofound North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). The signatories of the Treaty werethe USA, Canada, France, Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy,Portugal, Denmark, Iceland and Norway. Subsequently Greece, Turkcy and WestGermany joined the treaty which provided that an armed attack against one or more ofthe signatories in Europe, and North America would be considered an attack against theall signatories. In response to the NATO, USSR got together the former East Europeansocialist states into Warsaw Pact. Its terms and conditions were similar to that of theNATO. These developments (i.e. division of Europe into two economic and militaryblocs) deepened the Cold War.

Cold War :Meaning, Patternsand Dimer~sions


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Cold War Period Check Your Progress 3Note : ) Use the space given below for your answers.

ii) Check your answer with the model answer given at the end of the unit.1) Write short notes on :

a) German Crisisb) Truman Doctrinec) Th e Marshall Pland) NATO

7.5 COLD WAR IN THE FAR EASTThe Cold War, although originated in Europe, did not remain confined there. Cold Warspread over the Far East immediately after Europe. In China Communist Revolutionbecame successful in 1949. Chiang Kai Shek though got full support from the USA,failed to withstand the Communist attack. The Communists inflicted a crushing defeat toChiang's unpopular nationalist forces and drove them away from the mainland China.The success of the Communists in China was a great set back for the USA which hadbeen following the policy of containment of communism world over. The USA alongwith its Western allies signed the peace treaty with Japan, much to the chargrin of theUSSR. The treaty reduced Japan to almost a dependent of the USA, and made Japan themain US base in the Far East. The US military base in Japan is maintained by amassive financial support provided by the Japanese government: Japan meets almost70% of the expenses incurred in the maintenance of the U.S. military bases and Koreawas liberated by the Allies from Japan's occupation. The communist led armyconsolidated its position in North Korea and the anti-communist, pro-west forces,captured South Korea. In 1950, a civil war between North Korea (supported by China)and South Korea (supported by the U.S.) broke out. The country was divided along the38th parallel and reached to the Yalu river which separates China from Korea. NowChina backed by the USSR joined the fray in support of the communists. Immediatelythe North Korean army drove away the invaders. The war, however, continued foranother two years. In July 195 3 an armistice agreement was signed and the war endedbut the tension over the Korean issue between the two superpowers continues even now.Che ck Your P rogress 4Note : ) Use the space giGen below for your answers.

ii) Check you r answer with the model answer given at the end of the unit.1) Critically discuss how the Cold War spread over the Far East.


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Cold War :Meaning, Patterns............................................................................................................................................ and Dimensions

7.6 RELAXATION OF THE COLD WARIn 19 52 Dwight Eisenh owe r was installed in power replacing H arry S. Truman in theUSA. Disregarding the Truman Doctrine, he adopted necessary effective steps to end theKorean war. In April 195 3 Joseph Stalin died. He w as succeeded by m ore liberal andyoung leaders in the USSR. To some extent they liberalised both domestic and foreignpolicies of the USSR. Meanwhile the USSR gained the capability of making thehydrogen bomb which was nearly 800 times more powerful than the atomic bomb usedon Hiroshima. With the gaining of the capability of H-bomb, the USSR obtained paritywith the USA. Now the world leaders got frightened and started feeling morecomfortable in peace than in war.Many analysts feel that had there been no H-bomb with the two superpowers, some ofthe explosive situations that arose in subsequent years, would have exploded into actualwars between the superpowers. They cite the Cuban crisis as an example. In early 1960sa crisis situation developed in Cuba after the installation of the communists in power. Acommunist Cuba was considered to be the sword of Damocles pointed at the heart ofthe USA. The US wanted to crush the infant communist state at its door step. But theprompt action, taken by the USSR by sending missiles for the protection of Cuba,softened the aggressive mood of the USA. The crisis brought the two powers on thebrink of war but the war. however, did not break out. The US rejaxed its attitudetowards Cuba, the USSR withdrew the missiles. Thus the Cuban crisis ended in peace.Following the end of the Cuban crisis both superpowers entered into several pacts forlimiting the proliferation of nuclear weap ons. In 1963 an agreem ent was signed forcontrolling the tests of nuclear weapons known as Parsial Test Ban Treaty (PTBT). In1967 test of nuclear weapons in the space was prohibited, and also Latin America wasdeclared a nuclear weapons beyond the nations already possessing them was signed in1968. One agreement of prohibiting emplacement of nuclear weapons on the seabed andanother, prohibiting the use of biological weapons were signed in 1971. JJI 1972, SALT-Iwas signed between the U.S. and USSR . It was followed by an interim arms controlagreement signed in between the two Moscow in 1974, which subsequently y a sconverted into SALT-I1 in 1978. The se agreements collectively decreased the tension ofthe Cold War.Meanwhile Europe has restored itself from the Wartime destruction. The resurgentEurope began to compete with the US economy. France under Charles De-Gaulledeclined to remain dependent upon the USA. Germany also recovered quickly. Themonolithic international communist movement faced split. China and the USSR plungedinto a kind of Cold War. these developments also greatly aided to relax the Cold War.Check Your Progress 5Note : ) Use the space given below for your answers.

ii) Check your answe r with the model answer given at the end of the unit.1) Mention the factors responsible for the relaxation of the Cold War.

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Cold War Period 7.7 THE REBIRTH OF THE COLD WARIn late 197 0s Afghan istan experienced a sort of revolution. A comm unist gove rnmentwas installed in power. But anti-communist force in collaboration with the religiousfundamentalist forces opposed the new government. As a result Afghanistan soonplunged into an ending civil War. In this civil war the USA supported the anti-communists and the fundamentalists via Pakistan. The communist government in orderto stem the tide of the civil war sought military and economic aid from the USSR whopromptly sent a large contingent of armed forces and other military and economic aid inDecember 1979. The USA termed the presence of USSR army in Afghanistan as aninvasion. The US attitude thus sensitized the already strained USA-USSR relations. Thenew conflict between the two super powers has been termed as the rebirth or thebeginning of the new Cold War. The Cold War further deepened when in Poland martiallaw was imposed in 1981 to quell the pro-democracy unrest. The USA termed theaction as the USSR intervention in Poland. The relation between the USA and theUSSR reached already a breaking point in 198 3 when the USSR shot down a SouthKorean civilian airliner which was alleged to be on the spy mission. The US condemnedthe shooting dow n o i the airliner and immediately 8eployed new intermediate-rangemissiles in Europ e, in retaliation the USSR broke off arms talks with the USA. TheUSA meanwhile invaded Grenada in 1983, launched invisible was against the popularSandista government in Nicaragua and pushed ahead the development of the StrategicDefensive Initiatives (SDI) or star wars. Thus spread the new Cold War through out theworld. President Ronald Reagan of the USA adopted a strategy of rolling back of thee x p a n d ~ ~ , t .evil empire' of the Soviet Union.

. Check Your Progress 6Note : ) Use the space given below for your answer.

ii) Ch eck your answer with the model answer given at the end of the unit.1 ) What are the incidents responsible for the beginning of the new or second ColdWar?

7.8 PATTERNS AND DIMEN SIONSWorld was divided into two blocs during the Cold War period, basically on ideologicalgrounds. Since the Russian Revolution in 1917 which had given birth to a new systemin the world, the capitalist and imperialist forces declared invisible war against the newstate of the USSR. Immediately after the end of the Second World War, the Cold Wartook birth on the issue of expansion of the communist powers in Europe and other partsof the world. The Communist movement and the national liberation struggle against theage old imperialist rule in the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America joincdtogether in many areas. The USA and other imperialist states found it difficult ro \tclnthe tide of the emerging liberation struggle duly supported by the internationalcomm unist movement. T hey, therefore, developed alliances, encircling the com muliih~world with the aim of containing communism world over.However, communism was not the lone issue. National interests of the warring statesalso played significant role in the spreading of Cold War. In the case of China-USSRconflict national interest played significant role. Religion also was an issue. Shina-Sunny

I issues, Hindu-Muslim issues contributed to develop tension and cold war between Iran-Iraq and India-Pakistan respectively. The Cold War that spread in South Asia betweenIndia and Pakistan, has been due to the issues of secularism, democracy and


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nationalism. There has almost been an unending conflict between India and Pakistanover Kashmir Issue. India claims to be a secular democratic state where followers ofdifferent relig ~o ns an live together. K ashmir is considered to be the test ground ofIndian secularism.

Cold War :Meaning, Pattcrnsand Dimensions

The Cold War did not remaln confined to the superpowers alone. There are severaldimensions of the Cold War. In the international arena it was between the twosuperpowers. In the regional areas, there were also Cold Wars between the regionalpowers. Thcrc was Cold War in 1970s between Iran and Iraq, Cold War burst outbetween the USSR and China over the border issues. There has been Cold War betweenIndla and Pakistan over the issue of Kashmir. Pakistan tried military solution of theproblem but failed. Then the Cold War has engulfed the region.Though the period from the end of the Second World War to the disintegration of theUSSR is termed as the Cold War era, it was not a continuous phenomenon and theIssues were not the same. Cold War disturbed the peace in phases and periodically. Theissues were also not the same. First the German crisis was the issue, then the Koreanwar, the Afghan crisls, US declslon to go ahead wlth the star war programme etc.augmented the process of Cold War.Thus the pattern and dimensions of the Cold War are varied and multiple.Check Your Progress 7Note : ) Use the space given below for your answer.ii) Check your answ er with the model answer given at the end of the unit.1 ) Disscuss the pattern and dimensions of the Cold War.

7.8 END OF THE COLD WARThe depth of the Cold War started to decline in late 1980s. Mikhail Gorbachev'spolicies of 'Perestroika' and 'glasnost' were primarily responsible for the end of theCold War. The USA and the USSR agreed to dismantle a whole category of nuclearweapons. An agreement known as the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treatywas slgned to that effect. Though the treaty was not fully implemented, it reducedstrategic weapons by about 30 per cent. Meanwhile the world began to the less tense.Decade old Iran-Iraq war ended in 1988. The USSR u nder Gorba chev reversed the oldBrezenev system. It pulled the troops out from Afghanistan. Vietnam, which had beenhelping Cambodian government to quell the civil war since late 1970s, withdrew itssoldiers from Cambodia. Cuba which had sent army to Angola, brought back the forces.South Africa was forced to accord independence to Namibia. All these developmentswere positive signs for establishing peace in the world.But situation started changing w ith the turn of 1980s and beginning of 1990s. In CentralAmerica the popular Sandinista government fell. The economic crisis that had engulfedthe Eastern Europe and the USSR in mid 1980s was sought to be overcome by adoptingthe policies of political liberalization and market economy. The USSR put into effectMikhail Gorbachev's policies of Perestroika and Glasnost. Both domestic and foreignpolicies of the USSR were drastically changed. Consequently communist regimes inEastern Europe fell one by one. The State of East Germany was eliminated and wholeof Germany was united. The infamous Berlin Wall was demolished. And the USSR gotdisintegrated. The Cold War thus ended with the demise of a superpower. With thedistintegration of the USSR, Russia came out losing the status and position of asuperpower.


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Cold War Period At the ruins of the Cold War the unbridled supremacy of the USA has been establishedThe world now has become a unipolar one. The Cold War which had continued formore than four decades in one or another form, though kept the world free from anyworld wide conflict directly involving the two superpowers, failed to stop protractedcivil wars or regional wars. During the period of Cold War most of the local or civilwars were the national liberations struggles. The Cold War period saw thedecolonization of the world. Afro-Asian and Latin American nations who had so longbeen suffering from the European colonial rule, achieved independence during theperiod of Cold War. The end of Cold War has not eliminated the civil or local wars. Bnow the civil or local wars are no longer national liberation movements. They aremostly fratricidal battles which are being fought for parochial gains.C heck Your Progress 8Note : ) Use the space given below for your answer.

ii) Check your answ er with the model answers given at the end of the unit.1) Account for the causes of the Cold War.

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2) What are the characteristics of the post Cold War world?

LET US SUM UPCold War means the non-military conflict. Though it had orginated in the wake of thefirst World War (with the emergence of the socialist system) the fury of the Cold Warwas being experienced in the post Second World War period. The Cold War havingorginated in Europe in the late 1940s. spread over other parts of the world in thesubsequent decades. Although the ideology remained the basic issue, the non ~ideologicissues crept over periodically. The Cold War had begun with the foundation of theUSSR and declined with the disintegration of the USSR. The Cold War periodexperience d the decolonization process i& the world. The Cold War has now beenreplaced by a single power domination over the world and rise of certain regions intoprovince. The post COld War period has been experiencing the civil or local wars ovethe parochial and ethnic issues where as such wars in Cold War period were over thequestions of decolonisation and liberation of the depressed people.

7 . 1 KEY W ORDSAllied Powers : The states who came together the fight the Fascist Axispowers. The major allied powers were the USA, USSR,

Britain, France and China. There were fifty states in thisgroups.

Axis powers : The fascist powers-Germany, Italy and Japan-constituted tBloc in which a very few sm aller states joined.


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Glasnost : Open politics and multi-party democracy. It is a Russian word. Cold War :Meaning, Patternsand DimensionsPerestroika : It is the Russian term which denotes market economy. It hasgiven greater role to market forces in the Russian economywhich had hitherto been planned or controlled economy.Star wars It is a system to prevent nuclear war by providing thetechnological inputs and means to knock incoming missiles outof the air before they hit their targets.

7.12 SOME USEFUL BOOKSL.S. Stavrianous, 1983, A Global History, The Human Heritage, New Jersey.James Lee Ray, 1992, Global Politics, New Jersey.D.F. Fleming, 1961, The Cold War and Its Origin, 1917-1960, 2 Vols, Doubleday.W. La Feber, 1968, America, Russia and the Cold War, John Wiley.- - - --.13 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISES(Here points have been identified. For details the student should consult the lesson andthe suggested books.)Check Your Progress 11) Cold War means non-military conflict. Aggressive competition for supremacy.Check Your Progress 21 ) 1917 Russian Revolution.

Second World WarGerman CrisisGreek Civil WarEmergence of USSR-led Socialist BlocEmergence of neo-colonialism led by the USA.

Check Your Progress 3a) Struggle for ,the control of Germany by the Superpow ers.b) US pledge to support anti-communist inovements.C ) Economic aid to keep away the countries from falling to communist ruled) Aggressive defensive organisation to contain the forces of communism.

Check Your Progress 41) Take over of China by the Communists.

US base in JapanKorean War


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Cold War Period Check Your Progress 51 ) New leaderships in the USA and USSR. USSR's success in H-bomb. Resurrectionof Europe. Split in the monolithic communist market.

Check Your Progress 61) Afghan crisis, shooting down of the Korean civil airliner

US invisible war in Nicaragua.Star war programme of the USA.

Check Your Progress 71) Ideology, periodical Cold Wars, International Cold War.

Regional Cold War.Check Your Progress 81 ) Eco nom ic crisis in the Soc ialist Bloc-liberalization in the USSR-D istintegrationof the USSR.2 ) Single Power (USA) supremacy, civil and local wars over the parochial and ethnic

issues.

cold war - meaning , patterns and consequenses.pdf

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